Advice on New Puppy???

that sucks! I would hate to have to have all that hair!

 

I have been lurking on this site for months but this post actually made me get off my behind and register. You sound like you have a heart of gold so I hope you don't mind if I give you a little advice. You are looking for a dog to be an outside dog. This is a personal opinion but I don't agree with leaving a dog outside all of the time. Dogs are pack animals and they consider your family their pack and you are isolating them from their pack by leaving them outside. This is just my personal opinion, I have a family member that I love dearly that leaves her dogs outside. We agree to disagree but it still breaks my heart when I see her 3 sweethearts with their noses to the window wondering what the family is doing.

Goldens are the dog I know the most about because I own one and research the breed constantly. They are part of the sporting breed (as are Labs and Pointers also mentioned) they have tons of energy that needs to be directed. Also they are miserable away from their family which is not only sad for the dog but also hard on you because it leads to many behavioral problems (digging, barking, escaping, destruction and so on.) GSD's and Rotties are also bred with specific jobs to do. All of these dogs mentioned are highly intelligent and need a lot of interaction. They all will grow to be very large dogs and need a lot of training to be good doggy citizens as well. My golden is a part of the family that is the way these breeds (and I personally believe all our four legged friends) prefer and deserve to be.

I am only posting this because it sounds like you have a heart of gold, I would hate for you to have to go through the heartache of picking the wrong dog for your family and having to give the dog up. I see this a lot it is very sad for the dog and the family. I live in the city where many people leave their dogs outside most of the time. You see many problems with abuse through the fence, poisoning and dogs getting stolen or lost.

I leave you with one last thing to think about. You mentioned in your post you wanted the dog to be inexpensive. When you are talking about purebred pups, you truly get what you pay for. It will cause you more heartache and money in the future if you get a poorly bred pup with many health problems.

Everything in this post is just my personal opinion and I am only trying to help because it sounds like you are a really good person. There is tons of information on the internet it is a great place to research dogs. I hope I haven't offended anyone with my very first post LOL!

 

I have two outdoor dogs right now, and I think that makes a difference. Having multiple dogs, rather than simply leaving one outside by himself/herself. I do spend a lot of time out there, as they're brittany spaniels and would rather have human attention than dog attention, but they are happy. I have had friends who have quite successfully kept labs outside by themselves, but I would recommend multiple dogs if they are to be outside all the time.